A series of language courses will be running from September for ten weeks.The cost is £180 for new students and £150 for returning students. The Thursday classes will be held at More London (near Bankside). Courses are open to beginners, intermediate and advanced speakers of French, Spanish and Italian as well as beginner and intermediate students of German.

Thursday 8.45pm (45mins) Beginner German at More London (start date Thursday 28 September)

Class Descriptions

Beginners French

This is for beginners and people who have done a little before. It aims to cover the following subjects: We'll learn how to say who you are, where you live, what your job is, and talk about your family. We'll look at how to buy clothes in a shop, book into a hotel, get out of an airport, and how to order food in a restaurant. As far as the grammar is concerned we'll look at singular and plural, masculine and feminine, and the present tense, and if things go quickly, we may look at the past tense too. The main emphasis will be on speaking the language, so that you can go to the country, and make your way around.

Beginners Plus French

This is aimed at those who have done a little before and who may like a refresher course. We will look at how to say where you live and work, talk about your family, and cover situations like ordering drinks in a café, hobbies and pastimes, and also study numbers, colours and masculine and feminine and the present tense and perhaps the past.

French Intermediate

This is for people who have done a few years French at school, maybe many years ago up to O-level or GCSE, or perhaps more recently. We will be chatting about subjects like shopping, spare time interests, and holidays in some depth. As far as the grammar is concerned we'll revise the present tense, and masculine and feminine, singular and plural, and then look at the past and possibly future tenses in detail. We look at slang, and colloquial expressions. We'll also have a go at reading magazine excerpts, and writing short essays.

Advanced French

This is suitable for people who have A-level or possibly degree level French, and/or have spent some time in France. The class will be entirely in French. We will revise all grammar right through from the present tense to the subjunctive. We will look at articles from the French news. For example we might look at the French medical or education system if it is in the news and see how it compares with what is happening here.

Spanish beginners

This is for beginners and people who have done a little before. It aims to cover the following subjects: We'll learn how to say who you are, where you live, what your job is, and talk about your family. We'll look at how to buy clothes in a shop, book into a hotel, get out of an airport, and how to order food in a restaurant. As far as the grammar is concerned we'll look at singular and plural, masculine and feminine, and the present tense, and if things go quickly, we may look at the past tense too. The main emphasis will be on speaking the language, so that you can go to the country, and make your way around.

Spanish intermediate

This is for beginners and people who have done some before, perhaps up to GCSE level. Often people have studied for a year or more in my classes. We'll aim to cover the following subjects: we'll learn how to say who you are, where you live, what your job is, and talk about your family. We'll look at how to buy clothes in a shop, book into a hotel, get out of an airport, and how to order food in a restaurant. As far as the grammar is concerned we'll look at singular and plural, masculine, feminine and neuter, and the present tense, and some past tenses, and possibly the future and conditional.

Advanced Spanish

This is suitable for people who have studied Spanish formally to GCSE or A-level or possibly degree level, and then spent some time in Spain and Latin America. They may have Spanish relatives. This may seem a wide description, but if you are comfortable watching Spanish news, and reading newspaper articles, this will be the right class for you. In this class we will revise all grammar right through from the present tense to the major past tenses. Each week we will look at articles from Spanish magazines, for example items about education or housing, learn how to absorb the information, and use it as a basis for discussion. We will spend a lot of time talking about the information we have absorbed. We will also listen to recorded Spanish about current affairs topics and watch Spanish soap operas on YouTube

Italian beginners

This is for beginners. We'll aim to cover the following subjects: we'll learn how to say who you are, where you live, what your job is, and talk about your family. We'll look at how to buy clothes in a shop, book into a hotel, get out of an airport, and how to order food in a restaurant. As far as the grammar is concerned we'll look at singular and plural, masculine, feminine, and the present tense. If things go quickly, we may look at the past tense too. The main emphasis will be on speaking the language, so that you can go to the country, and make your way around

Italian beginners plus

This is for beginners and for people who have done a little before. I do find if people have a basis in another Latin language, and are willing to do some preparatory work, they can join a class that has been going a term or so. We'll aim to cover the following subjects: we'll learn how to say who you are, where you live, what your job is, and talk about your family. We'll look at how to buy clothes in a shop, book into a hotel, get out of an airport, and how to order food in a restaurant. As far as the grammar is concerned we'll look at singular and plural, masculine and feminine, and the present tense, and if things go quickly, we may look at the past tense too. The main emphasis will be on speaking the language, so that you can go to the country, and make your way around. We might have a go at things like Italian twenty questions, and learn some songs and sayings.

Italian Intermediate

This is aimed at people who have a grounding in the language, like GCSE or have studied beginners with me and would like more detailed study. We will be chatting about subjects like shopping, spare time interests, and holidays in some depth. As far as the grammar is concerned we'll revise the present tense, and masculine and feminine, singular and plural, and then look at the past and possibly future tenses in detail. We'll also have a go at reading magazine excerpts and writing short essays.

Intermediate/Advanced Italian

This is suitable for people who have A-level or possibly degree level Italian, and/or have spent some time in Italy. The class will be mainly in Italian. We will revise all grammar right through from the present tense to the subjunctive. We will listen to radio excerpts and dialogue. We will look at articles from the Italian news, for example items about education or housing, learn how to absorb the information, and use it as a basis for discussion.

German Beginners

This is for beginners. We'll aim to cover the following subjects: we'll learn how to say who you are, where you live, what your job is, and talk about your family. We'll look at how to buy clothes in a shop, book into a hotel, get out of an airport, and how to order food in a restaurant. As far as the grammar is concerned we'll look at singular and plural, masculine, feminine, and neuter, the present tense, and if things go quickly, we may look at the past tense too. The main emphasis will be on speaking the language, so that you can go to the country, and make your way around.

German intermediate level

This is for beginners and people who have done some before, perhaps up to GCSE level. We'll aim to cover the following subjects: we'll learn how to say who you are, where you live, what your job is, and talk about your family. We'll look at how to buy clothes in a shop, book into a hotel, get out of an airport, and how to order food in a restaurant. As far as the grammar is concerned we'll look at singular and plural, masculine, feminine and neuter, and the present tense, and some past tenses. We will also look at some of the German cases, and in some lessons we will look at easy German magazine articles

Portuguese

This is for people who are beginners or may have done a little with Sue before. We'll aim to cover the following subjects: we'll learn how to say who you are, where you live, what your job is, and talk about your family. We'll look at how to buy clothes in a shop, book into a hotel, get out of an airport, and how to order food in a restaurant. As far as the grammar is concerned we'll look at singular and plural, masculine and feminine, and the present tense, and if things go quickly, we may look at the past tense too. The main emphasis will be on speaking the language, so that you can go to the country, and make your way around

The Teacher

Susan has an M.A from Oxford and has been running courses in the City for the past twenty five years. Susan fell into teaching languages in the City, over twenty-five years ago, and has been hooked by the buzz of teaching brilliant people ever since. She loves discussing everything from how to chat someone up in a foreign language, to analysing world news. After leaving Oxford she was asked to tutor a group of stockbrokers in French, the brokers became avid students, and all their friends wanted to join the party too. Susan decided that the City was the place to be, and has stayed there ever since.

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